Syed Thajudeen

Who is Syed Thajudeen?

Syed Thajudeen Shaik Abu Talib was born in 1943 in Alagan Kulam, a village not too far from the temple city of Madurai, South India, where his Malaysian-born parents lived during the Second World War. He joined his family in Penang when he was eleven years old but later went back to India to pursue a course in art at the Government College of Arts and Crafts, Madras.

Without doubt, Syed's unique style and aesthetic sense draw inspiration from his personal Indian background and Indian traditional painting styles fused with Malay cultural elements. Syed's studies at Madras College of Arts and Crafts also informed and influenced his sense of aesthetics.

A distinctive stylisation, romantic treatment of subject matter and the rich colours as in the Ajanta cave paintings of Maharasthra and of the Mughal are apparent in his works. This, together with the traditional visual arts' integral connection with literature, music, dance, sculpture and philosophy, helped shape Syed's early works. His works, as individualistic as they are, attempt to evoke a state of rasa, or heightened mood that belongs to a larger tapestry and sensibility of Asian artistic traditions. In many instances where his favourite subject matters deal with women and love, they share the same archetypal symbols and metaphors.